Condoleezza Rice Quotes

As young people, you want to see people who in some way look like you to some degree, because it makes it a little easier for you to aspire to take on the qualities of those people.

It's funny: when people always talk about the importance of role models, I used to think that was so exaggerated, but as I get older, I start to realize I don't feel that way so much anymore. If you see somebody like you who's doing something, an older version of what you are, it does make you feel like it's more possible.

Because when I go places and I talk to kids and I talk to parents and I talk to athletes all over, and they look at my story and they see a person, African-American or not, they see something that they can relate to.

My role models have kept on changing.

Role models really matter. It's hard to imagine yourself as something you don't see.

I've patterned myself after my musical heroes.

When I was a little kid, I looked up to other people, so I hope that I can inspire little kids.

It's important to for your kids to see themselves in their superheroes. Really, it's important for all of us.

Growing up, I really didn't have a lot of role models.

If you can't see it, you can't be it.

If I could turn into my old coaches, or my parents, then I'd consider that a definite plus.

Some people say, 'Maude Apatow is my spirit animal.' I get that a lot. They tweet it to me.

You know, I've never believed, in anything, that you had to have role models who looked like you to do something. If I'd been waiting for a black, female, soviet specialist role model, I'd be still waiting.

I find it so important now to be a role model and a figure. And I know that may sound strange to some people, but most important is my connection with my fans and the connection that they breed with one another.

Howard Stern was the only one that was able to get through to me.

When I go speak to these kids through my foundation and am able to sit down and tell them some of the things that I've been through, they can look up and relate to me, and they can understand the feelings I had that are similar to what they're going through and feeling.

I just want to make everybody feel what I'm singing. And just to relate to me and know that this has been dream since I was a little girl. I've worked so hard for this, and I just want them to connect with me.

Like I said, when I was a kid, they inspired me.

It is important for children to grow up in a world where there are all kinds of adults and role models around them, for them to know it's not just parents and people who are parents that care about them, but that there are people who are living other kinds of lives.

When you speak of role models, when we talk to our kids, everybody is a role model, everyone, just as you look at a Michael Jordan to be the terrific athlete he is.

I enjoy being a role model for kids.

I had this sort of idolatry for certain actors who preceded me, people who inspired me, so I'm honored to be that way for young actors.

I think Oprah who is the height of aspiration and inspiration recognizes something in me that is germane.

As a kid I didn't see black cowboys on the screen. What that said to me was that there were things I couldn't do or be because of my color. What we see others like us do gives us permission to expand our own horizons.

If you don't have heroes in the beginning, you don't grow.